Former MSU player Bullard arrested in shooting

The Associated Press

September 25, 2013 10:10:21 AM

GULFPORT -- Former Long Beach High and Mississippi State basketball player Marcus Bullard has been charged with a drive-by shooting in Gulfport.

The Sun Herald reports that Bullard, 38, was charged with firing shots at an acquaintance on Dec. 26, 2012. Police said no one was injured in the shooting. They said four shots were fired at a car whose owner had just pulled into the driveway of his home in Gulfport. The car from which the shots were fired fled the scene.

Gulfport police have released no motive for the shooting. They obtained an arrest warrant for Bullard but couldn't find him.

Federal marshals arrested Bullard and took him to the Harrison County jail on May 2. He was sent to prison July 29 on a parole violation.

The state parole board recently approved his early release. He was transferred Thursday to the Harrison County jail, where he was held on $100,000 bond.

The case has been bound over to a grand jury.

Bullard helped get Mississippi State to the Final Four in 1996 but wasn't drafted into the NBA. Bullard played briefly for Venezuela, a minor league team.

He pleaded guilty in 1998 to crack cocaine possession and received three years of probation. While on probation, he was accused of hitting a rival fraternity member in the head with a gun. The incident led to revocation of his probation, and he served a short prison term.

He went to prison again after pleading guilty to the cocaine and ecstasy charges in 2004.